Is Alternative Medicine Just a Placebo?

As someone who supports many forms of alternative medicine, included many alternative medicine practitioners in my integrative medicine practice at the Owning Pink Center, and empowers my patients to seek out treatments based on the guidance of their healing inner wisdom (I call it your "Inner Pilot Light"), this statement in an article on CNN caught my eye:

Rigorous analyses of scientific studies have shown that much of what is known as alternative medicine is bunk, with a few exceptions such as St. John's wort for mild depression But the simple belief in a remedy carries a lot of weight, according to experts. And when you go to a practitioner of alternative medicine, you're likely to get someone who offers you more face time and greater sense of reassurance about a therapy than a regular doctor. The positive relationship you form with him or her may have a placebo effect in itself.

So Is Alternative Medicine Really Bunk?

Personally, I take issue with this statement. I believe that some things just aren't easily studied, but just because we can't clearly prove it in a randomized controlled clinical trial doesn't mean that it doesn't work. What I do agree with is the statement that more face time and a positive relationship can heal.

In the new book I'm working on, I define the term "healer" very loosely. In fact, my definition of a healer is pretty dang broad. I'm not just talking about the man who practices the wisdom of native medicine or the "woo woo" practices of a New Age woman in a muumuu. I'm also including some (but certainly not all) Western medical doctors, nurses, and OR techs. I'm including the Chinese medicine doctor, the yoga teacher, the massage therapist, the hairdresser who spends all day counseling her clients, the janitor who genuinely cares how your day is going, and most importantly- YOU!

Healers Abound

You can find healers everywhere. We are Reiki practitioners, herbalists, and midwives. We are physical therapists, nutritionists, and psychologists. We are life coaches, lactation consultants, spiritual healers, and homeopaths. We are intuitives, therapists, shamans, hynotherapists, osteopaths, and chiropractors. We are Qigong masters, guided imagery practitioners, iridologists, radiology techs, art therapists, music therapists, dance therapists, energy healers, and biofeedback specialists.

We are the woman who works in your nail salon and notices when it's been a while since you've had your pedicure because she really cares. We are the doorman in your apartment building who knows your name and always asks how your day is going. We are the taxi cab driver who listens to your tearful story and offers words of wisdom and a gentle touch of the back of your hand when he drops you off. We are the housekeeper who isn't just the housekeeper - she's part of the family.

We are also store clerks, pastors, lawyers, accountants, writers, mothers, nuns, and artists.

We are every individual who is willing to do the inner and outer work necessary to be as whole as possible so they can hold another person's heart in theirs. Healers come with varied backgrounds, different belief systems, and unique tools in our healing toolboxes, and yet, we are all still healers. If you work in the service industry in any way - and if you open your heart when you're serving others - you are helping to heal other people, so own it, baby. You are infinitely powerful. You matter. What you do heals. Period.

In other words, we are YOU, if you're willing to step up to the plate and claim your title. We all come to our healing gifts in different ways. Some are born with a gift. Others earn it through years of study. Some just follow the light wherever it leads them. And yet, we all have access to this immense capacity to heal ourselves and others.

What If A Placebo Heals?

It's true that some of these types of healers have little scientific data to support that the treatments they offer "work," and many of the rare studies that have been done demonstrate a positive placebo effect, meaning that people get better - but so do those not receiving the real treatment.

Countless studies, including this one just reported in WebMD demonstrate that if you believe something will make you better, it will. In other words, if you give 500 people a real drug (or a surgery or a procedure or a supplement) and you give 500 other people a sham version of the same thing (yes, there are sham surgeries!), sometimes you'll get a response rate up to 50% for those getting only the fake treatment.

What Does This Mean?

When the treatment effect is no greater than the placebo effect, medical science dismisses the treatment as worthless, which is so misguided to me. How can we dismiss the 50% who get better? I've struggled with this for a dozen years now. Should we be denying patients treatments that prove to be no better than placebo? (The medical community would answer yes.)

Or should we honor the amazing capacity within us all for self-healing and offer treatments that work but are no better than placebo? And if we do, what should we tell patients?

Some German doctors think maybe we should hand out sugar pills. According to this article, the German Medical Association started advising doctors to give out placebos, which, while it reeks of snake oil, just might work. I don't know...It's fuzzy for me.

What I Think

I think alternative medicine works in part because these practices really work and in part because love (as offered by genuinely caring practitioners who are present and listen, whether they are doctors, acupuncturists, or psychics) activates the self-healing mechanisms within us all. And yes, when you believe you will heal, you're more likely to do so. Because thoughts manifest. Healing thoughts cause healing. Loving healers help create the sacred space so people can heal themselves.

So call it placebo effect. Call it self-healing. Call it snake oil. I don't care.

What I do care deeply about is the power we hold within us to make this happen. The reality is that when we believe we will get well, very often, we do.

So what do you choose to believe about your health? Do you need someone to bottle that belief or might you activate your own self-healing without the sugar pill? I'd LOVE to hear what you think!

The bloggers on psychology today have helped me deal with my depression immensely,and I have not even had any face time with them. Granted, I have very low level depression, but I get depressed nonetheless. Just knowing that many others share my problem is a huge relief, and reading about various strategies for coping and trying some of them out has helped immensely. I refuse to go to a doctor and seek Prozac, but maybe I would try a sugar pill.

I have to say coming from and M.D this statement "Personally, I take issue with this statement. I believe that some things just aren't easily studied, but just because we can't clearly prove it in a randomized controlled clinical trial doesn't mean that it doesn't work." is the antithesis of confirmation bias, and cognitive dissonance all wrapped in to one statement.

How can you say that based on research alternative healing does not work, and then subsequently say well that does not prove anything. So if I show you a study that says they do work are you going to tout that as proof? This is the same crap arguments that Creationist use to say evolution is false.

This might come off as combative and if it does I am sorry about that. I wrote this more to understand what you are saying or thinking, if your bias I understand as all of us fall in to that trap at times. If you think you are unbias then please explain.

I agree. Whilst it is responsible to note the effecicacy of "the placebo effect", it is irresponsible to present it as a legitimate "treatment" for a range of problems. Too many people shun traditional healthcare for long term and terminal illness that really requires medical intervention.

I have similar concerns as Jake does in regards to the importance of sound research. The problem is that so much of the healing arts IS snake oil that can often be misused to rob people of money and dignity. If a sugar pill would have the same efficacy, it would certainly be cheaper than what many "healers" charge.

I'm also concerned about your definition of healer. Having been deeply invested in alternative therapies in my younger years, I learned that many people who define themselves as healers lack integrity and boundaries (and even awareness as to why these things may be important).

Clearly, this isn't true of all healers or healing arts, but because there is such potential for abuse of vulnerable, hopeful clients, the use of professional standards and scientific principles has an important place.

rig test results all the time, so you can't trust them either. For example, how many people would have been better off taking sugar pills thatn Lipitor and other cholesterol medication that screwed up their livers?

The evil corporation argument that always comes up in these topics. While it is possible for this bias to enter in to the study, it is also just as likely that it will not. This is why studies on medication like Lipitor are double blind.

Belief, and faith, when it is sincere and strong can produce unimaginable results. Why is it that humans need to have faith and ability to believe? Without it one would have much more difficulty in life than without. Imagine a person who had no ability to believe anything. Could this person be consistent in anything, or would such a person have many problems in all areas of life?

Does an atheist have an ability to believe? Yes. Just because an atheist does not believe in God does not mean that he/she does not have the "ability" to believe.

Are we not what we believe we are in regards to health and emotional wellbeing? There is much research that suggests the human brain is capable of many things. We all know someone who has never went to a doctor, or has never had therapy or emotional counseling and they are doing quite well.

In my own research I am finding many things about how the mind and body communicate and the reasons why we don't understand what many of our traits are really purposed for.

Take aggression as an example, I know a few people who become angry when someone talks about going to a doctor or a psychologist and in their anger they have passion about their convictions. This led me to postulate that aggression is not meant for anything but to fend off attackers and to overtake another species in order to eat, but there is another reason for aggression response, to strengthen the immune system. Microbial bacteria is everywhere and attack the human species consistently, our immune system reacts violently to rid the body of infection.

Belief and faith go hand in hand, if they didn't, I would have succumbed to my own emotional problems and visited a doctor thus I would permit another person to believe and have faith in my place that I could get better.

There was a time when the idea that we could "think ourselves back to health" was the call of the day. I guess no one believes in that anymore.

I see products that are called placebo's heal every day. Any procedure not FDA approved is considered a placebo. Representatives of the FDA told me I couldn't make any claims about one of the products I use to relieve pain. They said I could get it approved for a cost of about $100,000.

What happens when you get a cut on your hand? The body heals itself. Why is the inside any different? Incredibly more complicated, yes, but it should be able to heal itself. I think full adjustment chiropractors are a great alternative remedy with proven results, they free up the nervous system and allow the body to heal itself. Also, an incredible book on this is "The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force" by Jeff Schwartz, M.D. Will blow you away and change your beliefs.